“I’ve always thought that my books are more interesting than my life,” Salman Rushdie remarks, in his first interview since the assassination attempt on his life, in August. “Unfortunately, the world appears to disagree.”
Rushdie onstage before a public event, stabbing him about a dozen times. Rushdie barely survived. Now, in his first interview since the assassination attempt, Rushdie discusses the long shadow of the fatwa; his recovery from extensive injuries; and his writing. It was “just a piece of fortune, given what happened,” that Rushdie had finished work on a new novel, “
,” weeks before the attack. The book is being published this week. “I’ve always thought that my books are more interesting than my life,” he remarks. “Unfortunately, the world appears to disagree.”The New Yorker Radio Hour is a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker.